Four American-breds in line-up for Cattleya Sho in Japan Road kickoff

The Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby
begins with the Cattleya Sho on Saturday (Friday night 12:15 a.m. EST) at
Tokyo, and four American-breds will compete for points in the allowance race
over a metric mile.

All four were purchased at public auction, the most
expensive being the $650,000 filly by Square Eddie, Make Happy. Bred by Reddam Racing in California, the full sister to
2015 Hopeful (G1) winner Ralis was sold to Shadai Farm at Fasig-Tipton’s
Gulfstream Sale on March 28. Make Happy made a stunning debut versus males at this
track and trip October 7, drawing off by 10 lengths. Japan’s leading rider,
Christophe Lemaire, is back aboard. Make Happy is the heavy favorite in the early betting despite drawing the far outside post 14.

Washington Tesoro,
a Kentucky-bred son of Curlin, brought $550,000 as a Keeneland September
yearling. A half-brother to current San Clemente (G2) winner War Heroine,
Washington Tesoro romped in his lone start going about 1 1/16 miles at Fukushima.

Two others are graduates of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales
Company two-year-olds in training sales. Evacuant,
bred by Godolphin in Kentucky, went for $200,000 at OBS in April and looked a
bargain when pulling 3 1/2 lengths clear in his unveiling at Tokyo. Although
that was an about 6 1/2-furlong sprint, the Street Boss colt gained momentum
the farther he went. Evacuant will break from post 2, just to the inside of Washington Tesoro (post 3).

OBS March alumnus Seiun
Kobe, secured by trainer Hideyuki Mori for $150,000, took four tries to
break his maiden. But the son of Congrats got the job done last time out here,
and now picks up one of the nation’s best jockeys, Keita Tosaki.

Top European riders Ryan Moore and William Buick have taken
over the mounts on arguably the two most compelling Japanese-bred hopefuls in Romantico and Kingen, respectively.

Romantico, a son of Empire Maker, represents veteran trainer
Kazuo Fujisawa. After placing in his first two starts, Romantico rolled by
seven front-running lengths in a course-and-distance maiden. Lemaire had been
his regular pilot but Moore is at the helm here from post 10.

Given his role on Team Godolphin in Europe, Buick logically takes
the reins aboard homebred Kingen. By outstanding dirt sire Gold Allure, Kingen
rallied to win convincingly at first asking in the slop at Hanshin. He projects a good trip from off the pace from post 6.

Gold Allure has another in the line-up, Naran Huleg, who beat next-out winner Kanashibari in their mutual debut on this track. A closing second
in that sprint, the filly Kanashibari successfully stretched out around the
Tokyo mile in her latest. They will be right next to each other in the starting gate, Naran Huleg in post 12 and Kanashibari in post 13.

Peisha Mouton was
overlooked at 32-1 in his first try, but proved the odds all wrong when
storming from well back to prevail by five lengths. The Neo Universe colt is a
half-brother to Haseno Pyro, who scored points on last year’s Japan Road when
third in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun. Wild
Trader also exits a Tokyo maiden score third time out.

Recent Kyoto maiden winner Johann, by transatlantic juvenile champion Johannesburg, was unplaced
on turf but thrived on the switch to dirt. Seiun
Offroad hopes for a similar spark as he goes turf to dirt, while Peisha Lil Kiss and the filly Rhein Carina have been put in their
place as the competition has gotten tougher.

The Cattleya Sho offers points, applicable to the Japanese
leaderboard only, on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the top four finishers. It is worth
the least of the four scoring races on the Japan Road. The December 19
Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun at Kawasaki furnishes 20 points to the winner, next
February’s Hyacinth S. back at Tokyo awards 30 points to the winner, and the
new concluding event, the Fukuryu S. at Nakayama, is the treasure trove with a
40-16-8-4 points structure.